The Lone Star state's long shadow

Elizabeth Taylor

For most of us, Texas conjures associations with Enron, Waco and Larry Hagman's "Dallas," but for Gail Collins, it's the whole ballgame.

Collins, a New York Times columnist and one of the most adroit political observers, explains why in As Texas Goes ... How the Lone Star State Hijacked the American Agenda. From the columnist who has forever linked the dog-atop-station-wagon image to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, we might anticipate a rollicking look at the longhorn state. But with this book — following When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present, her expansive account of the modern woman's fight for equality — she looks past larger-than-life characters in 10-gallon hats to reveal the cultural shifts that will make Texas the pivotal state in the fall elections.

The blue state-red state divide doesn't seem to interest Collins, nor does the sense that the nation is divided into the liberal coasts with the humble, hardworking heartland in between. She argues that the conservative political agenda sweeping the country has its origins in Texas. With its support of tax cuts, banking deregulation, gun ownership and sexual abstinence, the state has set a powerful national agenda, which has been absorbed in other states around the country.

This is an excerpt of a piece that ran in full in Printers Row Journal, delivered to Printers Row members with the Sunday Chicago Tribune and by digital edition via email.